Dr. Goldstein has been at NIH since 1978, tenured in 1984 (NHLBI), and founded and still leads the Clinical Neurocardiology Section in intramural NINDS in 1999. His discoveries include cardiac sympathetic denervation in Parkinson disease, stressor-specific activation of the sympathetic noradrenergic and adrenomedullary hormonal systems, sympathoadrenal imbalance preceding neurocardiogenic syncope, autoimmune autonomic ganglionopathy, and decreased vesicular uptake of neuronal catecholamines in Lewy body diseases. His current research focuses on biomarkers and mechanisms of loss of catecholaminergic neurons in Parkinson disease and related disorders.

Dr. Goldstein will present a conceptual framework for answering four key questions about the pathogenesis of Lewy body diseases. (1) Only a very small percent of neurons are catecholaminergic. What renders them susceptible? (2) All genotypic abnormalities identified so far that cause familial PD have no obvious relationship to catecholamines. How do generalized genetic predispositions lead to relatively specific loss of catecholaminergic neurons? (3) The protein alpha-synuclein is expressed in all neurons, and precipitated alpha-synuclein is a prominent component of Lewy bodies. Why does alpha-synuclein tend to precipitate in the cytosol of catecholaminergic neurons? And (4) Why are PD and DLB diseases of the elderly? The analogy of Willie Sutton’s getaway car provides a basis for new ideas about potential diagnostic, treatment, and preventative strategies in Lewy body diseases.

Other topics to be discussed at the conference include Neuroimaging Techniques for Drug Discovery, Neuropsychiatric Therapeutics, Cognition across Neuropsychiatric Disorders, New Treatments Hiding in Glutamate Synapses, The Role of Epigenetics and Genomics, and Lessons & Success in Clinical Trials.

Also presenting at the Advances in Neuropsychiatric Treatment Conference are prestigious organizations including Abbott, Addex Pharma, Amgen, Johnson & Johnson, National Psychosis Service (UK), Neuronetics, NIDA, NIH, Roche, Stanford, UC San Francisco, University of Michigan, UNC School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Med and other leaders in the neuroscience and psychiatry fields. For more information, please visit gtcbio.com/.

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